Wachusett, Jack's Abby named top regional brewers

Two Central Massachusetts breweries that grew exponentially over a four-year period made a list of the top 100 regional breweries in the U.S.

Wachusett Brewing Co. of Westminster and Jack's Abby Craft Lagers of Framingham both made the annual list, a ranking of the country's top local breweries from the Brewer's Association, a nonprofit trade association. The list was unveiled in the May/June 2017 issue of The New Brewer, the journal of the Brewer's Association.

According to Brewer's Association data, Jack's Abby grew its barrel production from 2,500 barrels in 2012 to 34,500 in 2016. The brewery is set to produce 50,000 barrels this year, and its Framingham facility has the capacity to produce almost triple that amount.

Production for the first quarter of 2017 was up 70 percent from the same time period last year, according to Jack's Abby.

Wachusett produced 51,239 barrels in 2016, more than double the 26,351 it produced in 2012, according to the Brewer's Association. Between 2015 and 2016, production grew by 36 percent.